Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 12-18-20

Kwanzaa
The Meaning Of Kwanzaa And How It Benefits A Community
Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday that is celebrated by millions of people throughout the world. It represents a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African.
Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chairman of Africana Studies at Cal- ifornia State University, Long Beach, in- troduced the Kwanzaa celebration in 1965. He created the holiday after the riots in Los Angeles as a means of bring- ing African Americans together. The cel- ebration is one of family, community and culture.
This year, Kwanzaa will begin on Sat- urday, December 26th and end on Friday, January 1st. The theme this year is: “Kwanzaa and the Well-Being of the World: Living and Uplifting The Seven Principles.”
Nguzo Saba
The celebration focuses on 7 princi- ples known as Nguzo Saba. The princi- ples and their meaning are:
Umoja means Unity: To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, com-
munity, nation, and race. Kujichagulia means self-determi-
nation: To define ourselves, name our- selves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
Ujima means Collective Work and Responsibility: To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our prob- lems, and to solve them together.
Ujamaa means Cooperative Eco- nomics: To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
Nia means purpose: To make our col- lective vocation the building and develop-
ing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. Kuumba means Creativity: To do al-
ways as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we in- herited it.
Imani means Faith: To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the right- eousness and victory of our struggle.
Symbols Of Kwanzaa
Mazao, the crops (fruits, nuts, and vegetables) symbolizes work and the basis of the holiday.
Mkeka: Place Mat --- the Mkeka, made from straw or cloth, comes directly from Africa and expresses history, cul- ture, and tradition. It symbolizes the his- torical and traditional foundation for us to stand on and build our lives because today stands on our yesterdays, just as the other symbols stand on the Mkeka.
Vibunzi: Ear of Corn --- The stalk of corn represents fertility and symbol- izes that through the reproduction of chil- dren, the future hopes of the family are
brought to life. One ear is called Vibunzi, and two or more ears are called Mihindi.
Mishumaa Saba:
The Seven Candles --
Candles are ceremonial objects with two pri- mary purposes: to re- create symbolically the sun’s power and to pro- vide light. The celebra- tion of fire through candle burning is not limited to one particular group or country; it oc- curs everywhere.
Kinara: The Can- dleholder --- The Ki- nara is the center of the Kwanzaa setting and represents the original
stalk from which we came: our ancestry. The Kinara can be shape – straight lines, semicircles, or spirals – as long as the seven candles are separate and dis- tinct, similar to the design of the cande- labra.
Kikombe Cha Umoja: The Unity Cup --- the Kikombe Cha Umoja is a special cup that is used to perform the li- bation (tambiko) ritual during the Karamu feast on the sixth day of Kwan- zaa.
Zawadi: Gifts --- When we cele- brate Imani on the seventh day of Kwan- zaa, we give meaningful Zawadi (gifts) to encourage growth, self-determination, achievement, and success.
Gifts are exchanged, especially with the children, to promote or reward ac- complishments and commitments kept, as well as with guests.
Colors Of The Flag
The colors also represent African gods. Red is the color of Shango, the Yoruba god of fire, thunder, and light- ning, who lives in the clouds and sends down his thunderbolt whenever he is angry or offended. It also represents the struggle for self-determination and free- dom by people of color.
Black represents the people, the earth, the source of life, representing hope, creativity, and faith and denoting messages and the opening and closing of doors.
Green represents the earth that sus- tains our lives and provides hope, divina- tion, employment, and the fruits of the harvest.
The Day of Meditation
The last day of Kwanzaa is the first day of the new year, 1 January. Histori- cally, this has been for African people a time of sober assessment of things done and things to do, of self-reflection and re- flection on the life and future of the peo- ple, and of recommitment to their highest cultural values in a special way.
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